“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing.
Making your unknown known is the important thing.”-Georgia O’Keeffe
Do you journal? Or are you like me, jotting thoughts and sayings on random bits of paper? I have often purchased beautiful journals fulling intending to fill them. I just never do. I don’t know if it is the fear of the blank page, or what seems like the vast the number of pages that puts me off. But whatever the reason, there they sit, on my bookshelf, spotless as the day I purchased them.
Some time ago I bought a pack of inexpensive Ace playing cards. The flying biplane on the backs won me over! Who wouldn’t want to fly off to a new adventure in that wonderful plane? It was then I decided to use them as a journal. With a deck of 52, completing one card a week didn’t seem beyond the realm of possibilities. To kick off my venture I knew the best place to start was with the Artistcellar Pocket Stencil series Creative Words: Believe, Trust, Seek, and my favourite, Create.
Have you ever noticed the lovely sayings tucked away on the inserts of your Artistcellar Stencils? To me the stencils alone are creative cake…the inspirational quotes are the icing. Creative Words were just that…the catalyst I needed.
The playing cards have a plastic finish. To allow the media to attach, I sanded the cards and applied a quick layer of gesso. I didn’t want to totally cover the suits and numbers, so I removed some of it with a paper towel. On my work table, I assembled my stencils, acrylics and stamps. I wanted to have a bit of fun and see where my journey would take me. I revisited an old technique: applying rubber cement through the SEEK stencil. I tried a new idea as well: dabbing Dye-Na-Flow colour through the TRUST stencil. When dried I positioned the cards in a row and completed the backs. Though not identical, they have the same “feel”…a record of a time and place.
In the end I was happy with the results. Best of all, the stencils stood up to everything I threw at them. Clean up was a snap with stencils back to perfect condition. The cards are now part of my new journal, safely tucked away in a pocket page protector in a three ring binder.
Time seems to be racing by for me. Is it the same for you? Journaling is a wonderful way of capturing the essence of who we are. The perfect journal format is whatever suits you best. We owe it to ourselves to take the time to make our unknown known. Not only to ourselves, but sharing it those in our life. Right now. Right here.
MATERIALS USED
- ARTISTCELLAR Stencils: TRADITIONAL JAPANESE SERIES (Arrow, Ocean Waves), BLOCKS SERIES (Open Work), HALFTONE DOTS SERIES (Midtone 1 & 2), and POCKET STENCILS (Creative Words)
- Ace Playing Cards
- Liquitex Gesso
- Golden Glazing Fluid
- Avery Glue Stick
- Elmer’s Rubber Cement
- Memento Tuxedo Black Dye Ink
- Dye-Na-Flow: Midnight Blue
- DecoArt Peacock Pearl, Desert Turquoise,
- Plaid: Aquamarine, Bright Red, Plum, Sunflower, Bright Orange
- Reeves: Rose Red
- Dina Wakley: Blush, Lime
- Dylusion Spray: Bubble Gum Pink
- Rubber Stamps
- Sandpaper
- Post It Notes
- Natural Sponge
- Paper Towels
- Baseball Cards Pocket Page Protectors
- Vintage Paper
